Aaron Hernandez's Fiancée Says She Was Shocked by His Suicide: 'I Thought it Was a Hoax'

In a two-part interview with Dr. Phil McGraw on Dr. Phil that will air next week, Jenkins-Hernandez discusses the suicide and addresses rumors that her fiancé had a male jailhouse lover.

Jenkins-Hernandez discusses the moment that she heard about the suicide. “I thought it was a hoax,” she said, “that this was some cruel person playing a trick on me.”

Although Hernandez implied in his suicide note that he had given his fiancée some clues about his impending suicide, Jenkins-Hernandez claims that she had no idea that he was going to kill himself. Although Hernandez was in prison for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, he had recently been acquitted of double-murder charges in the 2012 shooting deaths of two men outside a Boston nightclub.

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

“I felt like we were looking so bright,” said Jenkins-Hernandez. “We were going up a ladder to a positive direction.”

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez on Dr. Phil

Courtesy Dr Phil

Polaris (2)

In the interview, McGraw and Jenkins-Hernandez will also discuss the voiding of Hernandez’s 2013 conviction, due to a little-known legal doctrine in Massachusetts that abates a conviction if a defendant dies before all of their appeals have been resolved. This leaves the door open for Hernandez’s estate to pursue $6.5 million in unpaid salary from the New England Patriots.

Jenkins-Hernandez’s exclusive two-part interview on Dr. Phil airs on May 15 and 16. Check local listings.

You May Like

Read More

Stay in the Know

Subscribe to PEOPLE’s newsletters so you never miss out on a must-read story